US manufacturers posted a slightly less widespread increase in business activity, with the ISM composite manufacturing index slipping in January to 57.6 from 58.8 in December.
- The Institute for Supply and Management (ISM)’s manufacturing stood at 57.6% in January, falling 1.2% percentage points from December, but still posted growth for the 20th straight month.
- The new orders dropped by the most, by 3.1 percentage points to 7.9%, as the Prices Index posted the sharpest increase, increasing 7.9% to 67.1%. The production index lost 1.6%, falling to 57.8%.
- The employment index rose by 0.6 percentage points to stand at 54.5 in January from 53.9 percent in December.
- Timothy Fiore, Committee Chair of ISM Manufacturing Survey, stated that the US manufacturing sector remains a demand-driven and supply chain-hampered environment.
Fiore further stated that there were shortages of essential intermediate materials, difficulties in transporting products, and a lack of direct labor on factory floors due to the COVID-19 omicron variant.
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Source: Institute for Supply Management.
